Faridpur mob attacks plainclothes RAB officers mistaking them for imposters

Police have detained the five fake RAB members, who have been transferred to Munshiganj

A team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers have been attacked in Faridpur’s Nagarkanda Upazila after locals mistook them for a group of fake RAB members.

The incident occurred on Monday around 7pm on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway, leaving several injured and a microbus vandalised.

According to Sub-Inspector Amirul Islam of Nagarkanda Police Station, a group of five men posing as RAB personnel were detained by residents who grew suspicious when they noticed a microbus speeding with a siren but found the passengers in plainclothes. When the suspects attempted to flee, the crowd caught and assaulted them.

Shortly afterwards, another microbus arrived carrying actual RAB officers, also in plainclothes, who had reportedly been chasing the imposters.

As they intervened to rescue the men being beaten, locals mistook them for accomplices and attacked them too.

The five alleged imposters have been identified as Md Suman, 49, Md Mintu, 45, Saiful Sheikh, 34, Md Jamil, 32, and Md Didar, 36.

They were detained and taken to Nagarkanda Police Station. Around 8:30pm, members of RAB's Faridpur camp transferred them to Srinagar Police Station in Munshiganj.

RAB-10’s Faridpur Camp Company Commander Tarikul Islam said a team from the unit had been following the suspects from its headquarters.

"As some of our personnel were not in uniform, the public mistakenly turned on both groups,” he said.

Anwar Hossain, company commander of the RAB-10 Munshiganj camp, added: “We intervened to prevent the crowd from killing the imposters. Unfortunately, the crowd thought we were fake RAB officers as well. Although there was an incident, it isn’t anything serious.”